Xbox and The Coalition are making a big deal about Gears of War: E-Day’s campaign ahead of its Xbox and PC launch on 1st October. The game sends Marcus Fenix back in time to study the origins of the Locust scourge, putting players in the stompy shoes of a younger, more ‘innocent’ Fenix alongside Dom Santiago as the world begins to fall apart. In a preview, Eurogamer‘s reviewer noted that the game feels like a continuation of the original trilogy in its pacing, mechanics, and setup.
A lingering question remained about the game’s true difficulty. Gears has long been known as a demanding shooter, with finishing it on the hardest Insane setting serving as a mark of distinction for players. The same prestige attached to achieving a LASO — Legendary, all skulls on — in Halo titles.
Matt Searcy, creative director at The Coalition, answered that question directly. “Yeah, I can tell you right now,” he laughed. “It’s Hardcore.”
Difficulty Modes
Searcy explained that The Coalition leaned on the lessons of previous games when building E-Day’s difficulty modes. “Luckily for us, we worked a lot on the various difficulty modes in Gears 4 and Gears 5, so I think we were able to follow a lot of those same patterns,” he said.
He explained that the formula depends on three elements: the arrangement of the spaces, the arms players receive, and the combinations of foes set against them. Turning the difficulty dial up makes the puzzle more visible, he said. “I think that’s one of the things that makes Gears really cool, right? That makes you, as a player, think,” he remarked. “It’s not just ‘How fast can I Whack-a-Mole?’ or ‘Can I find the strongest weapon?’ It’s more ‘What is the best strategy?’ And [the puzzle] also changes if you’re in co-op or if you’re a single player.”
The campaign offers four difficulty modes:
- Casual
- Normal
- Hardcore
- Insane
The game defaults to Normal, but the team plays it on Hardcore. Searcy explained why that makes sense for the setting. “If you think about the world, brutality is one of our pillars,” he said. “And like, Gears of War is meant to be a hard thing. The violence there is like a cathartic release, and when you chainsaw and you hear the character go ‘fuck yeah!’ we want you to be feeling that way too — because the way you got there should have been difficult and hard.”
Split Difficulty
Searcy also addressed the question of fairness across co-op play. “We allow that; we have split difficulty,” he said. “So if you want to play on Insane and your buddy isn’t as good as you, they can play on Normal and you can go through it together because everything is balanced off of [individual] damage and health. This is a really special thing for the franchise, I think.”
The system splits the difficulty settings, letting a veteran push the challenge higher while a less skilled companion plays at a gentler level. Health and damage get balanced separately for each player, which stops the harder player from simply carrying the weaker one through combat.
The Invisible Hand
The preview included moments where the game gently guided players toward safety. You spawn in behind a car when you meet your first ‘Boomer’ — an oversized Locust with a one-hit-kill grenade launcher — and charging him head-on ends with the player as a wet pool of chunky meat on the floor.
Searcy found that amusing. “Did you think ‘Maybe I should go get behind that car over there?'” he laughed. “Or ‘Maybe I should have stayed behind the car the devs put me behind in that cutscene’ [laughter]. You say ‘invisible hand’, but I think occasionally in our game it’s more that our hand is there, smacking you on your ass, saying ‘Get back in cover’!”
Hard Core
The default setting is Normal, yet the developers opt for Hardcore when they play. This difference changes how every encounter plays out. Through a range of systems — including ‘down but not out’ moments, restricted to two per encounter — The Coalition shows it grasps the give-and-take needed to make a hard game enjoyable: you must face consequences for risks that go just past the line, while also being rewarded for resisting the constant threat of being overpowered.
Historically, the Gears franchise has provided just one difficulty curve for all players, and it has always been brutal. That changes with E-Day, which introduces a split difficulty system. Now players can opt for Hardcore alone or alongside a friend on a lower setting, giving each person their own experience without having to match up against someone at a different level.
The Legacy of Brutality
Gears has always been a hard thing to play. The violence within it is meant to serve as a release, and the chainsaw kill stands as the clearest example of that intention. When you hear the character go ‘fuck yeah!’, Searcy wants you to feel that catharsis — because the path you took to reach that moment should have been difficult and hard.
Hardcore is the best way to experience that, he argued. “All the mechanics are firing kind of at the top of their game, but if you stick your head out of cover or make the wrong decision, you get knocked on your ass,” he said.
What Comes Next
Xbox and PC players can expect the full game to arrive on 1st October. A preview of the release has pointed toward the game recapturing the tension and achievement found in the original trilogy’s brutality. If the full game can live up to that sense of tension with its balance, then The Coalition will have made a very successful prequel to one of gaming’s most notorious series.
The question of difficulty is settled. It’s Hardcore.
The Verdict
Searcy’s laughter throughout the interview is the giveaway. The game’s difficulty is the subject of the conversation, and he is happy to talk about it.
The Coalition crafted a campaign that prizes deliberation above quick action, and it provides enough freedom that a seasoned player can stretch the boundaries while a companion remains at ease. The tiered difficulty setting marks a genuine advance for the series. It allows each person to move at their own speed without taking away the challenge from someone who desires it.
E-Day serves as both a prequel and a tribute to the original trilogy. Its pacing, mechanics, and setup all draw on the trilogy’s origins. Difficulty modes let players experience that harshness at their own pace, ranging from Casual to Insane.
The question of difficulty is settled. It’s Hardcore.
Source material: “What's the intended difficulty for Gears of War: E-Day? "I can tell you right now, it's Hardcore" says The Coalition creative director,” Eurogamer.
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